If and when lawmakers return to the Statehouse to work in person, a cloth face mask won’t cut it.
The Legislature’s Joint Rules Committee on Wednesday unanimously voted in favor of bolstering the mask mandate effective in all legislative spaces in the Statehouse. Everyone in the Statehouse — lawmakers, staffers, lobbyists, media and members of the public — will be required to wear at least a surgical mask.
Suitable masks will be provided at the door for anyone who does not have their own.
Masks have been mandatory in the Statehouse for months now regardless of someone’s vaccination status. The committee made Wednesday’s decision in light of skyrocketing Covid-19 cases — driven by the highly contagious Omicron variant — throughout Vermont and the country.
The decision follows testimony from Monday, when Cindy Noyes, an infectious disease doctor with the University of Vermont Medical Center, described the efficacy of various types of masks. Despite their deceivingly flimsy appearance, surgical masks — which feature multiple moisture-wicking layers — are more effective than cloth masks, she said. And the most effective are those with respirators, like KN95 or N95. In the hospital where she works, Noyes said staff mostly wear surgical masks.
Anyone who enters the Capitol wearing a cloth mask, a punctured mask or no mask at all can be escorted out of the building by Capitol police or the sergeant-at-arms if they refuse to accept a surgical mask, according to the rules.
Legislative leaders have yet to decide on a return date to in-person work in Montpelier, as the 2022 session continues virtually. As of Wednesday, the House is set to report back to Montpelier next week unless its members pass a remote work extension for themselves. Numerous representatives have pledged that they would not vote in favor of any such move.
Under their current rules, the Senate can stay remote until Feb. 25.
Still under heated debate is whether the House and Senate should have triggers in place to decide when to work remotely versus in person, such as a threshold for statewide weekly positivity rates or a positivity rate from within the building.
The Joint Rules Committee did not agree on any building-wide rules along those lines, instead deferring to the House and Senate’s respective rules committees to make the decisions for their own bodies.
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